Three wins in the past three matches have lifted the mood, and the League Two position, of Wycombe Wanderers, in the 125th year since the club was formed, by furniture trade workers, in 1887. In June, just in time for the landmark anniversary, Wycombe were bought from the previous businessman-owner, Steve Hayes, by the supporters trust, thus restoring Wycombe to ownership by the fans, its status for most of its history.

When the deal with Hayes was signed, a sale that included the cherished Adams Park stadium, Wycombe became the third club in the Football League now owned mutually by their supporters, after Exeter City and AFC Wimbledon, two of Wycombe's rivals in League Two.

Wycombe is a unique story because, unlike the other English professional clubs, almost all of which have been companies, owned by businessmen, since the 19th century, they were owned by their supporters until as recently as 2004. Non-league for most of their history, Wycombe were a traditional amateur club for almost 100 years, until shortly after they won promotion to the then Gola League, forerunner of the Conference, in 1985.

They established a structure then which served them well; not becoming a standard commercial company with shares, but instead being owned and run democratically by supporters. Fans who had a season ticket for three years became eligible to pay £1 for the right to become a member of the club, and they voted to elect the board of directors every three years. No major changes could be made to the club's constitution unless 75% of the members agreed.

In 1990, Wycombe moved from their old Loakes Park ground, whose pitch famously had an 11ft slope on it, to the new Adams Park stadium, named after a benefactor, Frank Adams, who provided money without asking to own the club. That same year Wycombe appointed Martin O'Neill as their manager and under his inspired leadership won their first promotion to the Football League in 1993, where they have remained ever since.

In part it was the ambition of the club's directors to develop higher than League One status, where Wycombe lasted for 10 years, which led to instability, the ripping up of that democratic structure and, ultimately, the reliance on Hayes and his funding. In 2004, the fans, proud of their democratic ownership, were told that the club had run up an overdraft and £2.2m debts, including £321,000 in interest-free loans from the directors. Given players' wage inflation straining clubs in the lower divisions, the directors proposed finding new investors – and such businessmen would invest only if they had an ownership stake.

Reluctantly, due to the financial hole in which the club had been sunk, enough supporters voted to allow the club to become a company owned by a handful of shareholders. The supporter-members retained a 25% stake, and the right to elect a director to the board, but many fans who had followed Wycombe for years resented that a sporting structure which had served them so well had been undone.

Hayes, who made millions from an internet loans business which he sold to the credit card company MBNA in 2005, arrived as an investor after that. Over succeeding years he increased his loans to Wycombe, and in 2008 he bought Wasps rugby union club, who had been Adams Park tenants since 2000. There, he enjoyed a partnership with the club's most distinguished player, Lawrence Dallaglio, and began to develop expansion plans.

In 2009 Hayes's loans to Wycombe had increased to around £7m and he moved to take the club over completely, presenting fans with an ultimatum which made him quite unpopular despite the scale of his investment. Hayes offered to reduce his debt by £3m in return for being granted 100% ownership of the club. Were he to be turned down, he would withdraw his financial support, which could have been calamitous for the club.

The deal was approved, with reluctance by many. Then Hayes, as the outright owner of both Wycombe and Wasps, advanced his ambitions for the clubs, unveiling proposals for a new, 17,500-seat stadium. He presented the vision of MK Dons, where league status was controversially claimed by moving Wimbledon there, and whose new stadium was built with enabling retail development, a project Hayes admires.

Many Wycombe fans, says the supporters trust spokesman, David Cook, are deeply attached to Adams Park and they were sceptical about the move. They questioned whether the football club of High Wycombe, a relatively small Buckinghamshire town, could happily occupy so large a stadium and suspected the project was more for Wasps' rugby future than Wycombe's credible good.

Wycombe district council did admire Hayes's ambition, and was supportive of the plans, until the leader of the council changed, and in June last year, after two years' work, the council rejected the proposed development. Hayes decided quickly that he did not wish to stay involved if the aspiration of expansion had been dashed, and resolved to sell the club.

"I've always been someone who builds things," Hayes told the Guardian. "When the stadium was turned down, the club was left with just survival, and that isn't me."

The supporters trust, which merged in 2008 with the old founding member company, began to develop plans to take over, stay at Adams Park and try to run the club sustainably. After long negotiations with Hayes which were not always happy, the trust and Hayes agreed a deal which appears fair to both. Hayes wrote off around £4m of loans, sold the club and the ground, leaving £1.5m owed to him, which the trust has 10 years to pay off.

In February Hayes was arrested by Metropolitan police officers as part of Operation Tuleta, an investigation into suspected computer hacking, and he has been bailed until February. Hayes denies any wrongdoing and says the arrest had nothing to do with his decision to sell. Last month a consortium which involved the former Wasps player Ken Moss bought the rugby club from Hayes for an undisclosed sum.

At Wycombe the supporters trust has separated the ownership of Adams Park from the club, so that it can safeguard the ground's future. On and off the field it has found running the club an immediate struggle. The 125th anniversary match against AFC Wimbledon on 22 September was planned as a celebration but, after a limp 1-0 defeat, the trust-owned club sacked the manager, Gary Waddock. Since then, under the caretaker Gareth Ainsworth, Wycombe have had a mini-revival, beating Torquay United, Fleetwood, and crisis club Portsmouth in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, and the embattled mood has lightened a little.

"We went into this with our eyes wide open," says Cook. "Wycombe supporters, like fans of all lower league football clubs, are a dedicated, loyal and generous bunch of people. We plan to break even next season, and we are on target. The club has been returned to its fans, and it is challenging – but exciting."